Chapter 26: Encounter with the Elves Again

Two days later.

Rod used up all the crystal-stone stomach pouches of the lizard monsters.

Good news — it worked, all resistances went up.

Bad news — only by a tiny bit.

If the earlier twenty-point boost to Scorpion Lady Hera's toxic-fire and venom resistance came from her, then twenty crystal-stone stomach pouches only added 1.5 points.

Imagination is rosy; reality is gaunt.

Still, at least it raised all resistances — otherwise Rod would have been tempted to go lick Hera's thigh.

The ease of recent days had not soothed his inner anxiety; if anything, it had deepened it.

He kept feeling that the Yige Sect was about to make a comeback.

After finishing his patrol that day—

Rod once again came to the Flawless Crystal Grounds.

"Last time we made it to about the five-hundred-meter mark, and every five hundred meters deeper, the monsters get stronger. Mr. Rod, aren't we being a bit reckless?"

Xiti hid at the back, nervously glancing around.

He knew Rod's strength was decent, but Rod had only just stepped into the fifth tier — another five hundred meters in would be the territory of peak fifth-tier monsters!

And monsters don't fight you one-on-one; they swarm.

"It's fine. If something's off, I'll pull back fast."

Rod drew 【Sword of Dedication】.

The newly rolled skill 【Glow】 wasn't as useless as he'd imagined — at least in a pitch-dark mine it was pretty good.

Xiti let out a whoop.

His eyes sparkled as he gazed at the gleaming longsword.

Little fairies, just like dragons, are born loving shiny treasures.

"Like the shine of resplendent mithril!" Xiti sighed in admiration.

As they pressed deeper, the group soon ran into their first peak fifth-tier monster.

Still lizard-shaped, but its hind legs had grown far more bloated, sprouting clusters of granular flesh-warts, and the tentacle maw on its head had grown far sturdier as well.

In short, it looked less and less like a lizard.

Rod's fundamentals were rock-solid.

After five minutes of fighting, he successfully killed it.

"See? Not that scary."

He stepped on the meat and fished out the stomach pouch.

"Doesn't it look a bit like the Yige race?"

Tally used 【Blink】 to appear at his side, pinching her nose in disgust.

The 【Growing Spirit】 Rod left behind was still being used on the magic short sword.

Unexpectedly, luck was good — it had actually rolled 【Blink】, that god-tier escape skill, and Tally was still getting the hang of it.

To stay true to the 【Blink】 concept, she had even transformed into a masked night-elf assassin; her dark-toned skin made her even harder to spot in the already pitch-black cave.

"Does it?"

Rod raised an eyebrow.

No matter how mutated this monster got, it was still within the vertebrate category.

The Yige race, on the other hand, were mucus-covered slugs.

"Not the appearance."

Tally shook her head: "It's the spirit and state inside them — I can't quite put it into words."

"On that note, I once read an interesting theory in an elven ancient text. They said the Yige race is a new species that walked out of the labyrinth, not originally from the continent itself."

Xiti joined the conversation — the young Wingcrystal had quite the interest in rumors, unofficial histories, and juicy anecdotes: "Maybe that's why Young Lady Tally feels that way."

The group pressed on.

Along the way they saw plenty of signs of battle; nearly every inch of the cave walls was dotted with broken monster-corpse fragments.

"No wonder their language and way of doing things differ so much from the other races on the continent — they're monsters that walked out of the labyrinth."

Rod's attitude was half-belief, half-doubt.

Among the many races of the continent, there were certainly some that had been cut off from the world.

Since such a theory wasn't circulating in present-day society, he leaned more toward it being elven slander.

After all, the elves were the first race to wage war on the Yige race, and also the first to get thoroughly thrashed.

That was always a shameful chapter for the proud elves.

"I'd like to ask—"

Rod ran into a heavily wounded monster.

He unleashed 【Aethelon's Flash】, slashing out three strikes in an instant.

"Is it true that every labyrinth mutation point is like this — the closer to the entrance, the weaker and more like what we'd call normal creatures?"

Look.

The outermost monsters, apart from the facial features, were otherwise just like lizards.

And the deeper ones, the more twisted.

"It's as if it's not the labyrinth mutating creatures, but our world mutating the things inside into the continent's creatures."

Hearing that, Xiti froze.

He briefly rifled through his memory and indeed found that every labyrinth mutation point he knew of had this trait.

"A very interesting way of putting it."

While speaking, West recorded this matter in his small notebook.

Over there, Tally swung out a Qi blade and finished off another monster that hadn't quite died.

She said with a smile: "By that logic, just how ugly must the Yigo race have been before they devolved into what they are now? Speaking of which, Little Bean — did the elves come in? Why is the work so sloppy?"

West scratched his head, also a little curious.

"The last two elves came in half a day earlier than us. They aren't usually like this."

"Look." Tally looked at Rod. "Elves are exactly that kind of filthy, morally bankrupt race. Pretty packaging, that's all. When you run into them later, don't you dare go near them. They'll first put on the act of moral paragons, then lure you into bed and devour you clean."

"They're not succubi, why would they want to lure me into bed?"

"That's what you don't understand — after suppression comes an even stronger rebound off the bottom. Perverted elves are not in the minority." Tally said.

West nodded: "Indeed. On the rankings of races with the most frequent mental issues, elves are always at the top."

"What kind of ridiculous ranking is that?"

"The Snow Hill Evening News of Gale City said so. Haven't you subscribed? Every resident of Shi Ying Town has a copy."

Before the words were finished.

From the passage ahead suddenly came the sound of fierce, rapid footsteps.

Two figures dashing at full speed were revealed.

They were precisely the two elves, Farshad and Lady Kali.

Their gear was in disarray. Lady Kali's face was extremely pale, and there was a blackened, vicious wound on her arm.

The moment Farshad saw them, his face turned ugly.

"Damn it!"

Then he bit down hard and suddenly struck out, throwing the completely unguarded Lady Kali over.

Then he turned, raised his staff high, rapidly gathered spiritual essence, and formed a massive protective barrier.

"Mr. Human! Please take Lady Kali back the way we came! I'll hold the rear here. Absolutely do not look back! Absolutely do not let it lock onto you!"

"No! Farshad! The day you have to protect me hasn't come yet!"

Lady Kali struggled to rise, but the surging toxin within her body kept eroding her frame, and she immediately vomited a mouthful of black blood.

"What happened?!"

West got a terrible fright.

"It's a deep-layer monster! Blame my rashness — I accidentally woke two Rank Seven monsters! Lady Kali barely killed one, and the magic power within her was exhausted. It's coming! Go now! Mr. Human, take Lady Kali and go!"

"Human! If you dare touch me, I swear on my life — I will kill you!" Lady Kali roared. Her chin was covered in black blood, her features vicious and terrifying.

And Farshad's body was trembling. Having not experienced much combat, he had nearly reached his limit.

His dried-up internal circuits had little magic power left. Casting another high-tier guardian art again sent the pain of extraction through every inch of his body.

The next moment.

(End of this chapter)